Pakistan u-turn on fuel price to ease crisis

Pakistan's government will reverse an unpopular fuel price rise, Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Prime Minister, said yesterday, in what appeared to be a concession to the opposition in a bid to ease the latest political crisis.

The U-turn was one of several demands made of the Pakistan People's Party by opposition politicians. The government is trying to survive a defection of one of its main coalition partners, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

MQM leader Faisal Subzwari said that while his party appreciated the decision, it would not rejoin the government.